Pakistan’s key diplomatic roles in the Iran crisis

There is still quite some confusion about the diplomatic role that Pakistan is playing in the ongoing U.S.-Israeli War on Iran.

As is quite clear by now, Trump’s pronouncements regarding the war are bombastic and often contradictory. But every few days he and his handlers try to pursue what they clearly think of as a “smart” psy-ops move, namely to say that they’re “in productive discussions” with Tehran, or something similar. They imply these “negotiations”, conducted through Pakistan, might even be near complete success.

But time after time after time, the Iranians reiterate: “No we are not in negotiations with Washington. At this point we have zero interest in such negotiations.”

Continue reading “Pakistan’s key diplomatic roles in the Iran crisis”

The China-Pakistan alliance reeling in GCC states (and others) to end the war on Iran

This has been a big week in geopolitics. On Tuesday (March 31), the Pakistani and Chinese foreign ministers jointly announced, in Beijing, a “5-point initiative” to end the Israeli-U.S. War on Iran. (PDF of the text is here.) In preparing that text, the two ministers had consulted closely with their counterparts in three Muslim-majority countries: Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Those three governments speedily expressed their support for it. (Just four days earlier, Pres. Trump had publicly and crudely insulted Saudi Arabia’s effective ruler, Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, MBS, at a big investment conference in Miami that had been financed by Saudi Arabia.)

Continue reading “The China-Pakistan alliance reeling in GCC states (and others) to end the war on Iran”